


Dreams Do Come True In New Orleans

by Moobaby



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Crossdressing, Egobang - Freeform, M/M, Princess and the Frog AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 13:12:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9550565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moobaby/pseuds/Moobaby
Summary: The Princess and the Frog AU I've been talking about for ages.Arin is a talented artist who can't seem to crawl out of his rut after the death of his father. He had big dreams but the world has dragged him down. His best friend, Suzy, seems to always get what she wants, and she insists that life is a fairy tale if you believe hard enough. Her Prince Charming has finally arrived, but something is amiss... and Arin gets wrapped up in an adventure he never asked for.





	1. Prologue & The Announcement

Arin could remember drawing even before he could write his own name.

 

He started with crayons, of course. By the time he was 7 he had upgraded to pencils, both colored and not. In middle school, he intimately knew the mediums of pastels and paints, both watercolor and acrylic. By the time he was a sophomore in High School, he knew that art was what he wanted to pursue for the rest of his life.

 

It had been scary to propose to his parents the idea of dropping out, but he was pleasantly surprised by their support. There was no reason to waste time and energy on an education that wasn’t going to benefit his future. His parents knew that he had a special talent for art, and they encouraged him to follow his dreams, and to do whatever he needed to make them come true.

 

He earned his GED easily _(Despite the fact that many would have called him ‘average’ in his academic classes, it was because the brunt of his focus was on a canvas)_ , and immediately began putting together a portfolio of his work. Being only 16, he couldn’t begin applying for jobs, but that didn’t stop him from beginning to pursue independent outlets.

 

He decided that animation was truly what he wanted to pursue. He taught himself how to do it, with an old-model tablet and primitive art programs. He put together his first, short cartoons, uploading them to the internet under the pseudonym of ‘Egoraptor’.

 

He took commissions online, although they were cheap. He didn’t feel quite confident enough yet to charge through-the-roof for his own work, and even then, it had always been his philosophy that art was something to be enjoyed by everyone, and it was with a slightly guilty conscience, but a completely selfish desire to not go hungry, that he accepted money in exchange for his work. It wasn’t enough money to live off of, but luckily he was still allowed to live at home with his parents, both of which had jobs and were supportive of him and his endeavors.

 

Life continued this way for a few months. Arin felt the happiest he had in all of his life. School was a trifling time for him, as all of his passion was dedicated to the arts. He had social anxiety, and kept to himself. He really only had one good friend, and he had known her since they were very young.

 

Suzanne Berhow was the daughter of the small town’s mayor, and as such, was much more wealthy than Arin’s family. She always had money to throw around and she absolutely had her father wrapped around her finger. Arin remembered first meeting her when his mother brought him along to her ranch, where she took care of horses. Suzanne had told her father she wanted a pony, and so he had enlisted in Arin’s mother to teach Suzy to ride.

 

Despite their differences in upbringing, they had a lot in common. They both enjoyed art, video games, comics. Suzy didn’t have a problem hanging out with Arin in school, even though she was considered ‘pretty’ and ‘popular,’ and that she ‘shouldn’t hang around with weird loner kids.’

 

As they aged and matured, their friendship remained strong, and it was clear that they had other things in common. Arin enjoyed letting Suzy put makeup on him, and dress him up in clothes that were otherwise ‘feminine.’ Eventually, they would even share their thoughts on boys at school.

 

A friend like Suzy was really all that Arin needed, so he didn’t feel the need to seek out other companions. Even when Suzy would invite him to go out with her and her friends, he often denied her, sheepishly, preferring to stay in and work on a painting or a sketch.

 

Life continued like this for a year after Arin dropped out of school. Things changed when his father fell ill.

 

All too soon, it was just Arin and his mother against the world. Ever the resilient woman, she remained strong. Arin knew, however, that she was just trying to be strong for him, and underneath, she was anything but. He knew he had to do the same for her.

 

She insisted that it wasn’t necessary, but Arin picked up a waiter job. It was the only job he could get with his GED, and it didn’t pay that well, but it kept Arin busy. The death of his father had resulted in his first tough bout of artist’s block. He figured that if he kept busy, the mourning would fade away, and he’d be back to doing art soon, just like his dad would have wanted. His father had always been his biggest supporter, his mother coming in right behind.

 

He eventually was able to bring himself to create again, but it just didn’t come as easily as it once had. Not to mention, late night and early morning shifts at the diner made it harder for him to find the energy, or the time, to sit down and paint or draw.

 

His canvases, his paints, his pastels and pencils were all pushed into a closet in the corner of his room. His dreams of being an aspiring artist were now just memories, and his once-bright vision of the future was now reduced to tunnel-vision; focusing only on how he would get through the day into tomorrow.

 

It was a fateful day in mid-February, three years later, when a chain of events began that would change Arin’s life forever.

 

It was about 10:30 in the morning, Arin noted, as he checked the watch on his wrist, a gift from Suzy. The diner was packed with fresh-from-the-steeple churchgoers, inhaling criminal amounts of pancakes, french toast, waffles, and muffins, as if the world was ending tomorrow. Arin wasn’t a religious fellow so for all he knew, it could be, as if everyone was in on it but him.

 

He had only been working for about two hours, but it felt like he’d been going for six.

 

He was waved down, another refill for some obnoxiously loud child’s glass of milk. Waved down again, another stack of pancakes for a man that looked like he seriously should reconsider.

 

When he was waved down the third time, he felt a smile tug at his previously ‘fucking-try-me’ expression. It was Suzy, and her father. They must have just been seated by the other waiter running about, a fellow named Vernon that Arin would swear up and down had the hugest crush on him, but just wouldn’t say anything about it.

 

He approached the table, tucking his server underneath his arm. Vernon could cover anyone else who needed him for just two minutes, tops.

 

“Hey, Suzy. Mr. Berhow.” He smiled at the two of them, and despite the genuine smile on his face, the tiredness was apparent in his eyes. He could see concern across Suzy’s features.

 

“You look like you haven’t slept in days, Ar’.” She said. Her voice was so soft and lilting, it reminded Arin of butterflies. He’d once painted a portrait of her with several butterflies about, because of that very analogy. To this day, it hung in her bedroom, which looked fitting for a gothic-era princess.

 

Arin rubbed his eyes, raising his brows as he did so, “Pretty sure I haven’t. I don’t even remember sleeping last night. I actually don’t even remember yesterday. But, them’s the breaks, right?” He put on a chipper attitude and expression for Suzy anyway, and he could see her appreciative smile.

 

“Oh!” Suzy then turned and looked at her father for a split second. He looked up from his menu, with raised brows. She shook his shoulder excitedly, “Daddy! Can I tell Arin about what you’ve got up your sleeve for tomorrow!?”

 

He chuckled, and shook his head, but Suzy knew that meant ‘yes’ instead of ‘no.’

 

“You know Daddy’s always the king at the Mardi Gras parades, but now that I’m twenty, I can finally be the princess at the parade!” She beamed, practically dancing in her seat with excitement.

 

Arin laughed, “The role you were born for, huh, Suz’?”

 

She nodded, which made Arin laugh again. She continued, “And since it’s gonna be my big Mardi Gras debut, Daddy was able to pull some strings for something EXTRA special! Oh, Daddy, can I tell him!?” He bounced in her seat, looking back at her father once more, who was still smiling, his nose buried in the menu. He looked as if he was ready to order, but he was waiting for Suzy to get her excitement out of her system.

 

Suzy squealed, causing some other patrons in the restaurant to turn their heads, so she lowered her voice, gesturing for Arin to come closer. “Daddy invited—and they accepted!—Daddy invited NSP to perform for the parade. Danny’s gonna be my prince!”

 

Arin’s brows shot up, “Oh, shit, really?” He glanced at Suzy’s father who was boasting a prideful smirk on his face.

 

“Anything for my little princess.” He said, fondly.

 

Suzy was still bouncing in her seat, silently squealing.

 

Arin knew the band, as they were Suzy’s favorite, and she had introduced him to them ages ago. In fact, he knew that Dan was at least 15 years older than the both of them, and he wondered if Suzy’s father knew that. Dan Avidan, the lead singer and soon-to-be-prince-of-Mardi-Gras, didn’t look a day over 25. As Arin thought about it a few seconds longer, he found it likely that Suzy had probably fudged Dan’s age in order to convince her father to go through with this whole thing.

 

“Well, damn, that’s awesome Suzy.” He said, smiling at her, though it was somewhat half-hearted. He’d thought that maybe, just maybe, she would have wanted her best friend to be the prince. But he supposed that would insinuate he and Suzy were involved, and that was far from the case.

 

“I KNOW! Oh, Ar’, I’m so excited! They’re arriving this afternoon, and since they’re our guests of honor, they’re going to be staying with me and Daddy at the Mayoral Mansion! Oh, yeah! We’re throwing a party tonight in order to welcome them. You HAVE to come!” She grabbed Arin by his apron and tugged on him aggressively. “Promise you’ll be there!”

 

“I—Jeez, Susy, you’re gonna ruin—ALRIGHT I’ll be there!” When Arin finally agreed, Suzy hopped up from her seat and threw her arms around Arin’s neck, throwing her legs up behind her, effectively hanging around the taller man’s neck. Suzy was nearly a foot shorter than him, but he was used to this.

 

Once she had relinquished him, he straightened out his uniform. “Once I’m done here, I’ll go home and crash for like… Two hours. Then, I promise, I’ll be at your place for the party.” Just as Arin had finished his statement, his name was called from the kitchen. He’d probably been loitering around Suzy’s table a bit too long.

 

“Ah, sorry, I gotta go. Vernon’ll take your orders. I’ll see you later tonight Suzy, Mr. Berhow.” He began power-walking back towards the kitchen.

 

“You better, Hanson!” he heard Suzy call out over the noise of the other diner patrons.


	2. The Shadowman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brian is envious of Danny. When he gets the chance to strike back... He's not going to let Dan get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the sake of this story, Brian isn't married nor does he have a daughter. Or even a girlfriend, for that matter.

Danny and Brian had arrived at the small airport hours ago, and it had taken only a matter of minutes for Brian to lose sight of the taller fellow. Dan had fetched his luggage, so luckily Brian only had to carry around his own suitcase, but he was peeved that Dan wasn’t responding to his phone-calls or texts. Part of him was concerned that Dan was in some sort of trouble, but a greater and wiser part of him knew Dan was just fine. This was, unfortunately, common.

 

Dan and Brian had been performing together for roughly five years now, since Dan was at the crisp age of 30 and he at 34. In the beginning, their dynamic had been much more comfortable and friendly, and Brian enjoyed their work. He still did, now, but he found himself feeling annoyed much more often than before these days.

 

With a band called ‘Ninja Sex Party’ it wasn’t hard to discern the subject material of their work. While the band was a parody of the two men’s inability to garner women’s attention, Dan had developed a magnetism with the fairer sex. Despite his insistence that he had never been great with women when he was in high school or college, he seemed to rally them like the pied piper, and they followed him around in flocks if he let them.

 

The sound of music, and the coos of women, were the telltale signs the Dan was nearby. Luckily for Brian, he hadn’t strayed too far from the airport they had arrived at. Brian had to admit, the small town was beautiful, and even though he was still peeved with Dan’s disappearance, now that he had found his companion he could really enjoy the scenery.

 

Dan had found a local diner, with an outdoor eating area. He was seated on a vacated table, his massive hands skillfully strumming a ukulele that, while normally sized, looked comically small in the man’s grasp. Dan was that tall, dark, and handsome trope, dressed in a goofy stage outfit with a dumb grin and a mess of hair that looked more fitting on a Q-tip than on a man of his stature. He had about five ladies gathered at the table surrounding him, completely under his spell as he played and sang to them, not really singing anything in particular but just vocalizing along with the instrument he was lazily playing.

 

“—and look over there, oh my god, it’s Ninja Brian~” Dan sang, before setting the instrument down in his lap, and putting on a sheepish smile after seeing the expression on Brian’s face.

 

The girls seemed to snap out of their stupor when Dan was suddenly quiet, and they all turned to look at Brian with blank or questioning stares.

 

Despite being in the same band, roughly the same age, Brian just never got a reaction from women. Probably because his role in the band involved being covered from head-to-toe in a ninja costume. He had wondered before if that was part of Dan’s doing—hiding Brian from view so that all the attention was on himself.

 

Brian sighed through his nostrils, allowing his irritation to be clearly visible. “I’ve been looking for you for over an hour. We’re suppose to meet with the mayor—“

 

“—and then I’ll be cooped up with his daughter for the rest of our stay here, if I don’t see the sights now, I’m not gonna get to for our whole trip!” Dan threw his arms up as he said this.

 

This gig was paying well. Extremely well. Dan couldn’t say no, but if it had been paying a penny less, he probably would have declined. He was basically being rented as a mail-order-dreamboat for one lucky, lucky girl. During all of the time Brian had known Dan, he knew the younger man couldn’t stand the idea of being tied down.

 

It wasn’t like he was going to marry the girl, but he was going to have to please the Mayor by treating his daughter like a princess, and thus, he couldn’t be garnering the attention of every woman he saw, as he was used to.

 

Brian rolled his eyes subtly, “Well, the longer we keep the Mayor and his daughter waiting, the worse it looks for us, and we probably will not be paid the same amount we were promised. Plus—“ Brian gestured toward the Diner, causing Dan to turn around.

 

Dan was face-to-face with an irritated looking waiter.

 

Arin—indicated by the nametag on his apron—cleared his throat, his expression a mix of irritation and, once Dan had turned to face him, recognition.

 

“I, uh… Need that table, Mr. Avidan.” He gestured to the table that Dan was sitting on with a damp rag he had been holding.

 

Dan grinned at the waiter, but sighed anyway as he hopped up. “Sorry, ladies, looks like I can’t stay. But, I’m sure you’ll all see me again, tonight at the Mayor’s costume ball, and eventually, at the parade! You ladies stay beautiful, Danny loves you.” He bid them goodbye, and they eventually did leave, fawning over themselves and cooing over Dan even as they were out of sight.

 

Dan then turned back to the table to address the waiter, but he was gone. The table had a light sheen on it, indicating it had been wiped down, and it was now dressed as if it were about to be seated at.

 

Dan looked around, but was interrupted by a tug on his sleeve from Brian, who only came up to about Dan’s shoulder. “Dan, we need to go. It’s getting darker, and you remember that we were warned about being in town at nightfall.”

 

Dan scoffed, grinning at his counterpart as he picked up his suitcase, and slung his ukulele over his own shoulder, “Oh, Brian, you don’t actually believe that there’s still VooDoo witch doctors or any of that, right? That’s like, old school stuff. Plus, none of it meant anything, it was just folks painting pentagrams on their floors in chicken blood and then a well-timed breeze of wind, or power outage, that made people believe there was something going on.” He chuckled at his friend’s expense, causing Brian’s ears to turn red, but he said nothing in response, his cold blue eyes trained on the ground in front of him as they walked towards the street.

 

They were passing by a narrow alley between two shops, when they were blocked by an extended cane from the alley. It was a dark wood, with a silver handle, a pale hand gripping its head, which was shaped like the curved beak of a parrot, its eyes faceted with red rubies.

 

“Well, then, Mr. Avidan, Mr. Wecht. If you believe VooDoo is all practical effects and parlor tricks, then I’m sure you wouldn’t hesitate to indulge wizard with a moment of your time?” Spoke the cane’s owner, who stepped halfway out of the darkness of the alley, allowing himself to be illuminated by a nearby street lamp.

 

“I know you’re both in a hurry to attend the Mayor’s party, but I promise, as soon as you give me a moment of your time, you’ll be on your way.” He grinned. He was shorter than either of the men, but he had a presence about him that was both intimidating and unsettling. It was something about the cold, soul-lessness of his eyes, and his unnerving smile. Dan found himself drawn in by the man’s eyes, and he couldn’t look away, despite wanting to. Perhaps Brian had been right, and this guy was probably bad news.

 

Brian’s mouth split into a devilish grin, and he looked up at Dan, then, seeing the fear on the younger man’s face. “Oh, what was that, Daniel, about how VooDoo isn’t real? Remember that, Daniel? Let’s give the good man a moment of our time, Daniel. It couldn’t hurt, right, Daniel?” Brian had a habit of repeating Dan’s name over and over again when he was on the cusp of getting Dan’s goat.

 

“Jonathan Jafari, at your service, my good gentlemen. If you’ll both just follow me…” He lowered his cane, and used it to walk further down the dark alley. While it had previously been pitch-black, it now had an eerie, red glow towards the far end.

 

Brian began following, before being stopped short by Dan’s hand on his shoulder. Brian looked back at Dan with that knowing, shit-eating grin. “Oh, what is it, Daniel? Are you scared, Daniel?”

 

Dan’s expression was serious, “Dude, this is a bad idea. You look like you’re already under some sort of spell—“

 

“Oh, what’s that, Daniel? I thought spells and voodoo weren’t real, Daniel? Just tricks of light and stupid ceremonies, isn’t that what you said, Daniel? We’ll be fine. Sound’s like you’re the one who needs to loosen up, now, Daniel.” Brian grabbed the front of Dan’s shirt and began tugging him along, following closely behind the stout shadowman that had garnered their attention.

 

It looked like Dan wasn’t going to get out of this one. Maybe he really was overreacting, and maybe Brian was just being a real shithead to scare Dan.

 

He begrudgingly followed the strange Mr. Jafari, and his friend.

 

They were invited into a strange door, the outside of which was illuminated by torches that absolutely hadn’t been lit when they first entered the alley. Dan tried to rationalize it. There had to be some way to ignite small fires from a distance. This guy just had to be a really good practical-affects engineer. Maybe he was fired from some big production company and this was how he paid the bills. Cheap, practical scares on tourists.

 

Upon entering the door, he and Brian were in a pitch-black room. The door shut behind them, and they hadn’t heard, or felt, Mr. Jafari enter behind them, or pass by them.

 

In an instant, the room was illuminated by many other torches, highlighting the menagerie of strange artifacts in the room. Shrunken heads lined one wall, which made Dan terribly uncomfortable. He couldn’t look at them. On another wall was a shelf that was filled with mason jars containing various organic… things. Some looked like organs, others looked like completely embalmed animals. There were other jars that neither Dan nor Brian could quite identify, and they didn’t bother looking long enough to find out.

 

Both men felt an unsettling sickness settle in their stomachs as they looked directly ahead. Mr. Jafari was sitting at a table, idly playing with a stack of what looked to be tarot cards. His cane was no longer anywhere to be seen, but now a parrot was perched upon his shoulder, and it bore an unsettling resemblance to the cane he had been using. A dark, silvery head, with glinting, red eyes.

 

“Come, my friends! Take a seat! I’ll tell you your future… And if you don’t like what you see, I may be able to offer you a deal.” He grinned. “I won’t even charge you, since you’re new here and all. First time customers, free of charge!”

 

Brian seemed to gain some of his confidence back. A simple tarot card reading? They weren’t in any kind of danger. He glanced back up at Dan with a chuckle, and tugged on the taller man’s arm. “C’mon, Daniel.”

 

Every time Brian said ‘Daniel,’ Dan felt less and less comfortable about the whole situation. However, he would have sworn he heard the door lock behind them. There was no turning back, now.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope to churn out chapters for this steadily. I don't think this will include any kind of Adult Situations, and if I feel so compelled to write something of that nature, I'll write it in a separate work.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @moobaby for art and other musings related to this AU that may or may not relate to the actual story!


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